Carolinochelys

Carolinochelys is an extinct genus of sea turtle from Oligocene of the eastern United States. It contains one species: C. wilsoni, and was first named by O.P. Hay in 1923. It is known from South Carolina, where it is known from the late Rupelian-aged Ashley Formation and the early Chattian-aged Chandler Bridge Formation, as well as from the late Rupelian-aged Old Church Formation of Virginia.

Carolinochelys

Akrasia25 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PancheloniidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Cryptodira

Time the record covers

At least 6.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 4 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 4 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 4 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 4 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33.9 Mya27.3 Mya56.7 Mya22.4 Mya

4 occurrences of Carolinochelys on record, most of them in the Oligocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

4 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Ashley — 32.96°N, 80.09°WOld Church — 37.63°N, 77.13°WChandler Bridge — 32.96°N, 80.13°W

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The named rock units Carolinochelys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carolinochelys and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Carolinochelys and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

28 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Carolinochelys, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 4 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Carolinochelys

Credit
Akrasia25
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Carolinochelys was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPancheloniidae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hay 1923